Analysis of time-of-flight small-angle neutron scattering data on mesoscopic crystals such as magnetic vortex lattices

Abstract

Bragg diffracted intensities and q values for crystalline structures with long repeat distances may be obtained by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) investigations. An account is given of the methods, advantages and disadvantages of obtaining such data by the multichromatic time-of-flight method, compared with the more traditional quasi-monochromatic SANS method. This is illustrated with data obtained from high-magnetic-field measurements on magnetic vortex line lattices in superconductors on the former HFM/EXED instrument at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. The methods have application to other mesoscopic crystalline structures investigated by SANS instruments at pulsed sources.